I Ain't Even Mad
by strawberrysunsets
Summary: Ponyboy has fallen head over heels for Tim's sister, Angela, and he has a plan on how to make her his. But how can that happen when she's in love with somebody else? Meanwhile, Dally's 'jail buddy', is a total lunatic who won't take him seriously. And Two-Bit... well, he and Johnny, along with a mystery greaser, are ghost-hunting! Slight AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: All rights go to S E Hinton. I don't own The Outsiders, however much I want to :(**

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**Ponyboy's POV**

"It was crazy, man," Two-Bit told me as we walked in our usual hangout. "Stan told Ethan who told Nate who told me that Isaac said to James that..."

Yes, you guessed it. I had no idea who those people were. I still don't. I was never really one to listen to anyone's stories, let alone Two-Bit's.

"Hey!" He snapped his fingers in front of my face. "Are you even listening to me?"

"Oh, sorry..." I wasn't really. I had no intention of listening to his rambling. I only listened to him the second time to make him feel better.

"I said, Shepard was killed last night, man. Crazy stuff." He shook his head.

I instantly froze. "What?"

Two-Bit and I sat down in our usual booth as he continued. "Tim was stabbed last night," he whispered, as if he was afraid someone might hear him.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "How?"

"Well, you get out your switchblade and pull it up like this." He moved his elbow back and forward as if he was stabbing air.

"I know how it happens!" I hissed at him as he cackled at his own joke. "But I want to know why it happened? What did he do?"

Two-Bit shrugged as he lit up a cigarette. "Not everythin' gotta have a reason, Pone."

I thought about that. I didn't think that was right. How could something that crazy happen for no reason whatsoever?

"That doesn't seem right, Two-Bit."

"Well, it might have a reason. It might not. Is grass green for a reason? Do we have two nostrils for a reason? Do socs jump greasers for a reason? Besides for the fact that we're tuffer than them, of course."

"You mean tough or tuff?"

"Tuff. We're pretty tuff."

"You mean like the cool tuff, or the tough tough?"

He paused for a moment, then reached over the table and put me in a headlock. "You're messin' with my mind, kid!"

"Shoot, Two-Bit! You're gonna ruin my hair!"

"You're such a girl, Pone." He laughed, but then stopped as he looked towards the door. Three girls walked in.

"No, Two-Bit. No. We're not gonna hit on them," I told him.

He shook his head, looking deadly serious for a moment. "Naw, man. That's Shepard's sister."

I did a double take as the three girls sat in a booth. The one on the left looked pretty familiar. "That's Angela? She's changed a lot since I last saw her. She don't look too good, man," I said quietly, wide-eyed.

"Yeah, she's pretty shaken up 'bout the whole thing." Two-Bit shook his head sadly, looking at the table. He lifted his head up to look at her again. "She didn't get along with Tim that much, but he was kind of like a role model to her. Now that he's dead... shoot, I think Curly's in the cooler, too. I wonder how she's doin'."

Next thing I knew, Two-Bit had a hold of my wrist and was dragging me towards Angela's table. "Hey, Ange!"

"What are you doing?" I asked.

She looked up from her friends. "Who the hell are you?" She asked, looking like she didn't really care at all. Yep, she was the same old Angela that I knew back in elementary.

"You don't remember us?" Two-Bit actually looked hurt, but his grin instantly erased that face. "I'm Two-Bit Mathews, and this is Ponyboy Curtis."

"Curtis... I remember you." She looked straight at me, making me flinch. Her cold, blue eyes scared me. It sounds cliche, but I felt like she was staring into my soul. It was uncomfortable.

"Uhh, yeah." I agreed, though I wasn't quite sure what I was agreeing with.

"Sit down," she told us, not cracking a smile. She looked pretty emotionless. She was scary, to say the least. Nonetheless, we sat down.

"This is Cyndi," she told us as a small blonde girl waved ecstatically, a wide grin spread across her face. She was very perky. It creeped me out. "And that's Colleen."

Colleen was different. Unlike Cyndi and Angela, she had dark brown and tan skin. It kind of reminded me of Johnny, but I knew that Johnny would never go for a girl like this. She wore too much black and her skirt was way to short. To say the least, she looked cheap.

I wondered about the girls from the other side of town, the ones who prefer hot tea over coke, cats over dogs and relationships over one-night-stands. They were scared of us greasers. Remembering people like Angela and Dally, I didn't blame them.

"Nice to meet you, Cyndi." Two-Bit kissed her hand as she giggled.

Angela glared daggers at Cyndi. "Don't you have a boyfriend, Cynthia?"

"Oh, have a little fun, Angie!" Cyndi giggled again. Oh, how she annoyed me!

"How can I have fun with everything that's happened?" Angela snapped at Cyndi. Two-Bit looked pretty uncomfortable, as did I. Colleen just sat there, taking everything in.

"Just let it go! It's over now!" Cyndi groaned. "God, Angela."

"Maybe we should, uhm, leave," I suggested.

Angela's head snapped back at me. "Yes. That's a good idea."

Two-Bit and I backed away, walking out of the Dingo.

"Well, then." He sighed. "That was interesting."

I breathed out loudly. I could've said 'I sighed', but it was much louder than a sigh. Now that I think about it, it was probably more like a groan.

I kind of felt sorry for Angela, going through everything. She seems pretty tough, but you can tell she keeps things bottled up inside. It's unhealthy.

Two-Bit walked in front of me and held my shoulders in place as he observed my face.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I know what's going on here..." He told me suspiciously. "You've got a crush on baby Shepard!"

I shook my head. "You're wrong, Two-Bit. She scares me half to death." That was actually true. I wasn't lying about that one.

"That don't mean you ain't attracted to her!"

"It does, actually," I told him as we continued walking down the sidewalk.

"What are you thinking, right now?" He asked me. "Tell me the truth."

"Honestly..." I sighed. "I kind of want to help Angela. I want to help her become a better person. She's been through so much."

"And how do you suppose you'll be able to help her, young grasshopper?" He put me in a headlock once again.

"Jeez, Two-Bit, give it a rest with that, will ya?" I pushed him away as he grinned madly.

"Well, good luck changing Angela Shepard." Two-Bit huffed. "She's about as easy to tame as a rabid bull."

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**I know, I should be working on Can Of Worms. But this idea has been stuck in my head for a while and I just had to get it out. The next one-shot in Can Of Worms will be out tomorrow, I promise :) And the next chapter for this story might be out tomorrow, idk. I'll see how much time I have ;)**

**Please review :D Each review makes my day :D**

**- Lollie**


	2. Chapter 2

**Dally's POV**

The cold metal bars of the jail door closed behind me as I got pushed into the cell.

"Bullshit..." I mumbled as I kicked the wall with my boot.

The guard growled. He was menacing enough. He even had a scare straight down from the corner of his left eyebrow to his cheekbone. He reminded me of Tim Shepard. "Language!" The guard tapped his batton on the bars before walking off.

"What are you, a school teacher?" I called after him, sitting on the bottom bunk of the bed..

"He used to be," A voice from the top bunk sighed, making me jump. "But I slashed him up real good. He ain't takin' shit from nobody no more."

"The hell are you?" I asked, stepping up on the bottom bunk so I could look at the person.

"I'm Fran. It's short for Frangipani," The girl said. She had black hair that was in a bob cut and heavy black make-up. I thought they made you wash make-up off in the cooler? I didn't have very good fashion sense, but I knew enough to know that black lipstick and orange jumpsuits don't go well together.

"You were named after a flower?" I had to hold in my laughter. Here I was thinking that the Curtis brothers had strange names!

"You were named after a place," Fran retorted, shrugging.

"You got a problem with that?" I shifted uncomfortably as I stepped back onto the cold, hard floor. "How'd you get my name, anyway?"

She nodded to where the guard was standing before he left. "Slashy, over there."

"Slashy?" I furrowed my eyebrows, looking straight at the girl for an answer.

"You know, the guard I slashed up," She grinned menacingly. Freak...

Now that was creepy! Even me, Dallas _freaking_ Winston, was scared of this 'Frangipani' girl. "How'd that happen?"

"That's a secret only Slashy and I will know about." She giggled, pressing her index finger to her lips. "Shh!"

Yep, I thought. She's crazy.

"What about you?" She asked casually. "What'd you do bad enough to come to this hell-hole?"

I wasn't a very manipulative person. I always got what I want by threatening, not playing games, but this was a game that had to be played. "None of your business, dipshit."

The girl looked shocked, which made me grin. My evil plan was working!

"You didn't tell me yours, so you don't get mine. Capisce?"

"Ho capito." The girl nodded, grinning sheepishly.

"W-what?" I asked, annoyed. The only Italian I knew was 'capisce', which meant understand. I used it to threaten socs. "You know what? Nevermind. Just let me sleep."

I literally dove into the bottom bed. Unluckily, the bed wasn't as soft as I thought it was, and I rolled, hitting the wall with a 'thump'. I groaned.

I wondered about the rest of the gang. Were they okay? It wasn't like me to be worried, but for some reason I was concerned about Johnny. He was coming around almost every day with new bruises and cuts. He was more quieter than usual, too.

Sometimes I have a sudden urge to walk up to his good-for-nothing parents and give them a piece of my mind. If you didn't already know, that meant beating them up.

They treated Johnny like he was a nuisence to the world, which he obviously wasn't. We couldn't get along without him. We all knew that. I sighed. It was unlike me, but I really missed them.

"You okay, Dally?" Fran asked, relatively concerned.

"Don't call me that," I ordered.

"But it sounds better!" She whined.

I gave up. I just put my cheap, thin pillow on top of my face in annoyance and tried my best to get to sleep.

"Goodnight, Dally," I heard her say. This was going to be a looong two months in the cooler.

"Goodnight, asshole."


End file.
